Joe Phillips wraps up his series on real-world project management by expounding on models and certifications that really work. But what does any of this have to do with the pyramids and the Chicago World's Fair?

From the author of

All projects are really about change. Let's take my favorite project of
all time: the pyramids of Egypt. Imagine a sweltering desert with miles of sand,
snakes, and other scenes from an Indiana Jones film. Add a few million workers,
some great plans, some scary mummies, and you've got the pyramids. All
right, so my history is a little skewed, but I think you see my point. First it
was nothing; then, after some planning and execution, there were the
pyramids.

What approach to project management do you think the pharaohs used? Does it
matter? I don't think so.

Project Management Is Project Management

Erik Larson's book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and
Madness at the Fair That Changed America (Crown Publishers, 2003) is an
incredible read about Chicago playing host to the 1893 World Columbian
Exposition—also known as the Chicago World's Fair—and the story
of a creepy murderer living in the Chicago at the same time.

NOTE

The Exposition, not Chicago, was known as the White City.

The project management victories and failures within the World's Fair
were incredible: debate over where the fair should take place, visions of what
the fair should offer, uncompromising landscape details, and (my favorite
project) the creation of the Ferris Wheel.

The book says nothing about what project management approach the organizers
of the fair preferred. Does it matter? I don't think so.

That's my real point. Does it really matter what approach we take to
project management?

In software project management, a few flavors have popped on and off the
project management radar for the past few years, Scrum and extreme programming
being two of the juiciest, in addition to other models such as lean
manufacturing, Six Sigma, and even rolling wave planning.

But here's what I think: Project management is project management. I
don't think it matters what approach you take to complete your
projects—as long as you complete your projects.

We could argue over the virtues and positive attributes of all the different
project management approaches and go at each other like fans of the Chicago
Bears and the Green Bay Packers. But really, does it matter at all?

Again, I say no.

I don't care what you like. I don't care what project management
approach you say is the best. I don't care what you think of my approach to
project management. I only care that you use whatever approach gets the job
done.

I'm not criticizing anyone's favorite methodology (or the Packers,
for that matter). I just believe there's a tendency to fall in love with
processes, action items, forms, reports, control charts, and theories. Big
freakin' deal. Find what works for you, for your organization, and then do
it.

Project management is about getting the work done. Project management is
about getting from here, at project launch, to way down there at project
closure. Project management is about getting to results.